Just when I think I'm doing okay....

[1964nurse]

I'm a new RN, less than a year, LPN for the first 14 years, 44 years old, working mainly LTC and home care. Thought I'd like a challenge and broaden my options.:bugeyes: I 'm working at a small local hospital on the Med/Surg unit and it goes okay for a couple of weeks, then bam I screw up big time. Yesterday a pt. went down for a angiogram and filter placement which was placed in the R IJ area. (I have never dealt with this before).he came back from the procedure and a nurse on the other unit noticed the techs were escorting him to the BR. She says He's not suppose to be walking, he should be on bedrest for at least 4 hours. What does his post op orders say? What did they tell you from report? I said They didn't give me report on him. She says no report? and there's no orders? notifies our supervisor and an incident report was filed for no report. So the day goes on and the 7 pm nurse comes on and I 'm giving her report and she says no postop orders? we need to get him orders. I'm thinking why can't he go back on what he was prior to the procedure? So I page the oncall PA and she says You just notice this now and you want me to give orders to cover some nurses ass? I become completely befuddled and scared and say All we need is diet orders. She said what about meds? I say he has meds, She says how can he have meds if there's no postop orders? I say I don't know and can I please have a diet order for this guy. She says fine, soft diet. I now in tears tell the supervisor of this and she says What? So I tell her the story, she calls the PA and their discussing this situation and the fact this situation will be thoroughly investigated and she will take care of it on her end, however her attitude toward me when I called was uncalled for and we need to take care of this patient. So I received the orders and hope I didn't screw up transcribing them because now I'm a pathetic crying mess and my peers try to console me, although I know I'm in some trouble here. I haven't thought of much else since, it's my weekend off and I'm really tired of feeling this way every other week. My thoughts....

1. Should I quit and find a less stressful position?

2. Am I going to be fired?

3. I don't blame the PA for being upset, incompetant nurse.

4. If these are learning experiences, why do they have to hurt so much?

5.I really don't care to share this story with some of the people I work with, because some think they are perfect.

This patient was fine. VS stable, dressing intact, no bleeding whatsoever.

Any insightful and useful thoughts on this matter would be appreciated. I think I should have went into truckdriving.

[Tweety, BSN, RN]

1. should i quit and find a less stressful position? no. these kinds of things happen to all of us, and we learn from them. next time you're going to immediately look for orders and not do this again. but there will be other instances. heck, i've been in this for 17 years and it still happens to me. we live, we learn, we toughen up, and we make mistakes, but we don't run.

2. am i going to be fired? of course not. the md who should have wrote the post-procedure orders is wrong, the persons taken care of the patient should have given report - hand off is a big joint commission deal and they let you down, not the other way around.

3. i don't blame the pa for being upset, incompetant nurse.you're a great nurse, you have a right to be upset with the pa for being completely, totally unprofessional.

4. if these are learning experiences, why do they have to hurt so much?this is one of life's biggest mysteries. all of my life's lessons, the one's i've grown the most from have hurt the most.

5.i really don't care to share this story with some of the people i work with, because some think they are perfect.you at least know that you're a human being. we'll listen. we understand. we're here for you.

[racing-mom4, BSN, RN]

Sorry you had such a bad day/exp. I am guessing from here on out you will never take a patient with out new orders!! LOL. That is how we learn, by experiencing.

What would you tell someone in your situation? To quit and be a truck driver?? No way, you would tell them things like this happen sometimes our support staff helps us and some times they trash us. Roll with the punches-tomorrow is another day- etc etc etc.

No one was hurt or damaged, please dont be so hard on yourself. I too am a new nurse, just got my lic 6 months ago. There is not a day I come in when a more Sr nurse says to me "hey next time ya need to..." or "you forgot to..." nursing in my opinion is an on the job training job.

Nursing school barely scratches the surface of all we need to do....

[nursemike, ASN, RN]

Sometimes, in my heart of hearts, I have this nagging fear that driving trucks isn't all roses, either.

Hang in there. It gets better. Then it gets worse. Then it gets better. Then...well, heck, you say you were an LPN for 14 years?

Would you really want someone crazy enough to be a nurse behind the wheel of a big rig?

[Danish, MSN, APRN, NP]

I think you shouldn't be so harsh on yourself.

You know its a learning process and you are doing the best you can.

You cant let someone being unprofessional upset you, or else you will spend your entire career being upset :)

Hang in there!

[UM Review RN, ASN, RN]

So sorry this happened, 1964nurse. As Tweety said, learn from it, don't beat yourself up, and move on.

Not getting orders, not getting report -- that was huge. But now you know that if you don't get report or orders on a postop patient, you need to start hollering fast and get it fixed.

The PA was just being a jerk.

You'll do better next time, but always remember, there's no cure for the PA's problem.

[cpnegrad07]

1. these kinds of things happen to all of us, and we learn from them. next time you're going to immediately look for orders and not do this again. but there will be other instances. heck, i've been in this for 17 years and it still happens to me.

tweety- i am new, less than a year and in med-surg also.

why do these things happen? the lack of uniformity and process is shocking to me. if this were an airline or a meat-packing plant or a school, we wouldn't be seeing these kinds of case-by-case reinvent-the-wheel processes (or lack of them). i'm not blaming you but asking you, as the veteran, if you have an insight into why we constantly deal with patches and work-arounds and people dropping the ball.

makes me afraid to be a patient, which i will be in 2 weeks.

thanks.